Passive monitoring system

Abstract

Embodiments discussed herein provide a passive monitoring system for use in a residential independent living framework. In some exemplary embodiments, the system may be used to alert a primary caregiver of a possible decline or change in an activity of daily living (“ADL”) of the monitored individual. The system may collect usage data associated with, for example, electrical devices at the living quarters of the monitored individual. The collected data may include data pairs of time samples and voltage data associated with one or more electrical devices that the monitored individual is expected to utilize. Applying various filters to the collected data, a possible decline or change in ADL of the monitored individual may be identified.

1 . A system for monitoring one or more activities of an individual, the system comprising:
 one or more nodes for collecting power usage information at a living quarters of the individual;   an interface for a user to:
 provide a notification request when one or more actual activities occur; 
 specify one or more expected activities and one or more notification threshold levels; 
   a processing engine for:
 determining the one or more actual activities of the individual based on the power usage information, and 
 comparing the one or more actual activities to the one or more expected activities; and 
   a notification engine for generating one or more notification messages when:
 the one or more actual activities occur that match the notification request, and 
 a difference between the one or more actual activities and the one or more expected activities is outside the one or more notification threshold levels. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an event logging server wirelessly coupled to at least one of the one or more nodes for logging the collected power usage information.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the system includes two or more nodes,
 a first one of the two or more nodes includes a first electrical current sensor, a first local area network (LAN) bridge for communicating with other nodes, and a wider area network (WAN) bridge for communicating with the event logging server; and   a second one of the two or more nodes includes a second electrical current sensor and a second local area network (LAN) bridge for communicating with other nodes.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the interface is a configurable web application. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the power usage information includes one or more of measured current flow, ON switching events, OFF switching events, number of ON/OFF switching events, times of the ON/OFF switching events, duration of ON/OFF switching states and profiling information based on particular power signatures associated with electric-powered devices. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processing engine determines one or more of a change in activity patterns of the individual, an increase or decrease in the activity of the individual, a magnitude of variability in use of electronic technologies, an interval of time between activities of the individual and mobility of the individual in the living quarters. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processing engine generates a graphical representation of one or more of recent switching events, a summary of events, a change in activity patterns of the individual, an increase or decrease in the activity of the individual, a magnitude of variability in use of electronic technologies, an interval of time between activities of the individual and mobility of the individual in the living quarters. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the graphical representation is displayed using the interface. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more nodes include an inline light bulb power sensor that is installed between a standard light socket and a light bulb. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the one or more nodes include a power sensor inline with a modular battery in a cordless appliance. 
     
     
         11 . A method for monitoring one or more activities of an individual, the method comprising:
 receiving monitoring data from one or more nodes collecting power usage information at a living quarters of the individual;   determining actual activities of the individual based on the monitoring data;   receiving notification request for one or more of the actual activities of the individual;   receiving information about or specification of one or more expected activities for the individual;   comparing the actual activities to the one or more expected activities; and   generating a notification based on the comparing or the notification request.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 detecting, based on the comparing, a disparity between the actual activities and the one or more expected activities,   wherein the notification is associated with the detected disparity.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 receiving one or more notification threshold levels;   comparing the disparity to the one or more notification levels prior to generating the notification associated with the disparity.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 determining, using the monitoring data, a sharp increase in power draw associated with an appliance; and   readjusting a notification threshold levels associated with the appliance to account for the sharp increase.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the notification indicates that the power usage information matches the one or more expected activities such that no disparity is identified. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the power usage information includes one or more of measured current flow, ON switching events, OFF switching events, number of ON/OFF switching events, times of the ON/OFF switching events, duration of ON/OFF switching states and profiling information based on particular power signatures associated with electric-powered devices. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 analyzing the number of and a duration between the ON/OFF switching events to determine one or more machine-initiated switching events; and   filtering the one or more machine-initiated switching events from the number of ON/OFF switching events to determine switching events initiated by the individual.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 determining, using the monitoring data, one or more of a change in activity patterns of the individual, an increase or decrease in the activity of the individual, a magnitude of variability in use of electronic technologies, an interval of time between activities of the individual and mobility of the individual in the living quarters.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 determining, based on the monitoring data, that a thermostat-based electrical appliance is switched off.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to:
 receive monitoring data from one or more nodes collecting power usage information at a living quarters of an individual;   determine actual activities of the individual based on the monitoring data;   receive notification request for one or more of the actual activities of the individual;   receive information about or specification of one or more expected activities for the individual;   compare the actual activities to the one or more expected activities;   detect, based on the comparing, a disparity between the actual activities and the one or more expected activities;   compare the disparity to the one or more notification levels prior to generating the notification associated with the disparity; and   generate, based on the comparing or the notification request, a notification associated with the disparity.